A reason why XenForo is so bad in mobile devices

[Brent W]

We could all use Facebook.com without its mobile app but that doesn't mean they should ditch their mobile apps and mobile webpage. Lets think about being efficient and not just what works.

 

[ddmmh]

I have to say that I have no issues with XF on any of my mobile devices - iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch.
It looks, and works, just fine.

iO5 although limited in my opinion is brilliant for web browsing(without flash ) but the reality is Android phones come in the hundreads if not thousands of different types and models. In the lesser developed countries they are using old hardware that makes XenForo almost useless to view. The fact is mobile devices will overtake desktop devices withing the next year or 2. Im am so glad Kier and the XF team decided to develop a mobile theme. It will attract a whole lot of new users and be better for the XF community in so many ways. Thanks Kier & Mike!

 

[cmeinck]

This the absolute best gift you could give an XenForo admin. If you need beta testers, I have an Android forum, iPhone forum and Windows Phone forum. All running XenForo 1.1. I also have phones, devices for all the platforms mentioned, so would have no problem conducting any testing.

 

[Deepmartini]

Will mobile be part of the core and be free? Or will it be a paid add-on?

 

[ManagerJosh]

Will mobile be part of the core and be free? Or will it be a paid add-on?

That question rings with a customer who has been severely burned by a certain California based company who charges for everything under the sun...

I honestly believe, (and this is my own opinion, not an official statement), that it will come part of XenForo 1.2. We might need to pay to renew the license since some of our licenses have expired, but that's about it

 

[Deepmartini]

So what will happen to ForumRunner and TapaTalk? Wouldn't they become useless?

 

[Robbo]

They aren't just for XenForo and applications are able to do things mobile sites can't due to mobile browser limitations.

 

[ManagerJosh]

So what will happen to ForumRunner and TapaTalk? Wouldn't they become useless?

The answer is simply I don't know. If I was XenForo's business manager (and I'm not by the way), and with all do respect to TapaTalk and ForumRunner as they make great products, my first and foremost concern is not to ForumRunner or TapaTalk. My first and foremost concern are to license holders of XenForo.

 

[Rigel Kentaurus]

So what will happen to ForumRunner and TapaTalk? Wouldn't they become useless?

I have an iPhone

most of the times I am using the Facebook application, instead of just browsing to the facebook page. This used to be a big deal when the Facebook page didn't have a mobile style, but the web page is actually fine now. I still use the Facebook application, though. Some reasons:

1. A native app, if done well, will always be faster. You cannot beat the speed of native code. For some people, browsing to a thread in tapatalk might be a lot faster than trying it through web (no html rendering involved, or few with webkit views)
2. You just can't do some things through web.. for example you cannot upload a file (you don't even have an exposed file system on the iPhone). So if you want to add an attachment, only a native app can do it. Can't through web.
3. A native app has notifications, which are really useful. If I am subscribed to a thread, I get a popup when somebody responds to that on my phone. Can't do that through web. Once you browse to another page or close safari it's gone and you can't be notified about anything.
4. The app enables "cool features" that are impossible on the mobile style. For example, you can have an "upload a photo" option, the user uses the camera, takes a photo of whatever and it gets attached to the post. Can't do that through web, no way to access the camera.

.... I guess different people would have different reasons. For now, and until everything is exposed to the web layer, a native app would be steps ahead in functionality.

 

[Marcus]

I would be happy enough with a app that does these things:

- notifications

And when a user gets one he is directed to the fitting webpage in the mobile browser. I don't know how easy you can customize apps. Maybe its possible to do the same thing I can do with xenforo styles in tapatalk, forumrunner but I seriously doubt that. And an app that I can not customize is of not much use for me.

 

[DBA]

That's unlikely, as the biggest mobile market (iOS) has no capacity to upload files through the browser, but after the mobile style is done, we could take a leaf out of Facebook's er... book, and create an app that wraps around the mobile style (which is what the Facebook app does with http://m.facebook.com) and provides those facilities that the browser can't support.

Hmmmm just uploaded this with my Android phone on the default style.

 

[Forsaken]

Hmmmm just uploaded this with my Android phone on the default style.

View attachment 23888

Android is capable, iOS isn't.

 

[DBA]

Android is capable, iOS isn't.

And here's yet another reason iOS sucks.